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SCUTTLEBUTT 2902 - Thursday, August 6, 2009Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are Aquidneck Custom Composites and Ullman Sails. ALINGHI ANNOUNCES AMERICA’S CUP VENUE (August 5, 2009) - The America's Cup Defender, Alinghi, and its yacht club, the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) today issued a press release announcing Ras al-Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates, as the venue for the 33rd America's Cup Match in February 2010. The venue in the UAE is a controversial choice as the Challenger, the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) and its BMW ORACLE Racing team, does not see this venue as an available option within the rules. In a statement released in response to Alinghi's announcement, Tom Ehman, Golden Gate Yacht Club spokesperson, says, "Golden Gate Yacht Club believes Société Nautique de Genève's choice of this venue, without our mutual consent, is contrary to the Deed of Gift and the decisions and orders of the New York courts. We are reviewing our options." Scuttlebutt legal analyst Cory Friedman sides with GGYC on this issue, as while the Deed of Gift allows only Southern Hemisphere venues in February, Friedman said that the courts had permitted only the Valencia, Spain option in the Northern Hemisphere venue as SNG claimed at the time to be contractually bound to that city. (Correction: The Curmudgeon misread Cory's position... Cory doesn't believe Justice Cahn opened the door to ANY site outside of the Southern Hemisphere.) Among the considerations for the GGYC team will be if litigating the venue site would delay the event, now scheduled to begin February 8, 2010. Determining which team may benefit more from additional time could impact their decision, or whether SNG would be willing to concede any of their rights as a defender to allow them to use the UAE venue by mutual consent. Additional information: http://www.sailing.org/29124.php Ras al-Khaimah video: http://bit.ly/2kyOgr Q&A about Ras al-Khaimah: http://tinyurl.com/nxt6sn Ras al-Khaimah time and temperature: http://tinyurl.com/locrfa FLYING DUTCHMAN MAY ENTER AMERICAS' CUP Can it be? Is it possible that the 33rd America’s Cup race, should it be held at all, might be manned by computers and servos controlled remotely? Yes! The New York Court of Appeals ruled on July 28, 2009, that yachts racing for the Cup may use computers to steer and control the boats, and can use engines to raise and trim the sails. Alas, no more teams of hearty beefcakes whirling those two handed winches; no more acrobatic foredeckman flying like trapeze artists while they change headsails. The race may be run by yachts with no one on board. Imagine that, sports fans! Just like the remote controlled toy boats raced around the lake in Golden Gate Park, their big brothers, full sized, may race with sails magically raised and trimmed. Arthur C. Clark said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. In a 1951 motion picture, based on the legend of The Flying Dutchman, the actor James Mason played Captain Hendik van der Zee, who skippered a ship doomed to sail the seas forever. A scene at the end of the movie showed Mason alone on his ship, with the sails being raised and set by magic, sailing off into the sunset. -- Examiner.com, full story: http://tinyurl.com/nn8pp5 VISIT AQUIDNECK CUSTOM COMPOSITES’ NEW WEBSITE Aquidneck Custom Composites has recently launched their first website and would like to invite the readers of Scuttlebutt to check it out. ACC has been building custom boats for eight years now. Finally it has built a website. In addition to boat building, ACC offers fabrication of boats accessories such as composite ladders, custom doors & hatches, passarelles and appendages. ACC also offers CNC router services to other boat builders and fabricators. Check it all out here: http://www.aquidneckcustom.com STAR WORLDS Varberg, Sweden (August 5, 2009; Day 4) - Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk have been teamed up since the Delta Lloyd Regatta earlier this spring and much of the time Pepper has been under the weather and Monk has been in wonderment about being back on the Olympic sailing circuit since competing in the Finn for New Zealand in the 1996 Olympics. Together they not only won today's first race, they also came out of the day atop the leaderboard following the completion of four races. With two races completed today, the American team filled the top slots in the first race with Mark Mendelblatt/ Mark Strube in second, George Szabo/ Rick Peters in third, and Andrew Campbell/ Magnus Liljedahl in fourth. Campbell, a rookie in the Star Class, is sailing with Liljedahl, an Olympic Gold Medalist and Star World Champion. Said Liljedahl earlier in the week, "I've sailed with fifteen Olympic medalists and I've already learned things from Andrew. He is incredibly calm and level-headed in a boat." The Germans had their day in the sunshine too, with the second race finding Johannes Polgar/ Tim Kroeger in fourth, Alex Schlonski/ Frihjof Kleen in fifth, Matthias Miller/ Benedikt Wenk in seventh, and Johannes Babandererde/ Timo Jacobs in ninth place. Polgar/Kroeger were low point for the day with a 7, 4. Teams will be able to discard their worst race following the completion of five races. Six races are scheduled. -- Event website: http://www.giveandgo.se/vss/index.asp Preliminary Results - Top 10 of 86 1. NZL, Hamish Pepper/ Craig Monk, 11-9-1-11, 32 2. USA, Mark Mendelblatt/ Mark Strube, 8-4-2-26, 40 3. USA, Andrew Campbell/ Magnus Liljedahl, 14-14-4-8, 40 4. SUI, Flavio Marazzi/ Enrico De Maria, 3-3-35-1, 42 5. GER, Alexander Schlonski/ Frithjof Kleen, 9-17-11-5, 42 6. SWE, Fredrik Loof/ Johan Tillander, 2-5-15-23, 45 7. ITA, Nicola Celon/ Edoardo Natucci, 7-21-8-25, 61 8. GER, Johannes Polgar/ Tim Kroeger, 31-22-7-4, 64 9. BRA, Lars Schmidt Grael/ Ronald Seifert, 30-6-14-14, 64 10. POR, Afonso Domingos/ Frederico Melo, 38-7-10-10, 65 Results: http://www.starclass.org/search.cgi?Action=view&Event_id=1654 Andrew Campbell (USA), commenting on Wednesday’s conditions: “In the words of my friend Dave Wright, today in Sweden we had: ‘Champagne Sailing.’ 7-12 knots of sunny seabreeze, 68-70 degrees, and just enough wave action to get a nice ride with a little work. The difficult part of the sailing today was getting around the current. The racecourse was painfully one-sided thanks to adverse current down the left side of the course and generally more breeze on the right side. Both reasons had all 85+ boats sailing on port at once. Clear air was at a premium, and the rich got richer as the front row closed up all the available lanes.” -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/ndahc2 TEAM RACING TIPS One of the most powerful moves in sailing is to win the committee boat end of the start line. It is especially powerful in team racing because you can control the right side of the course and tack on any opponents who tack out shortly after the start. Let's discuss some techniques to help you win the boat: One of the first things you must do before the starting sequence is to research is the layline to the committee boat. Start out below the committee boat and head up to close hauled guessing the layline. Do this multiple times until you get a good feel for where it actually is. If the venue is shifty, which most team race venues are, you should get an idea for how the layline changes with the shifting winds. It is helpful to find a line sight for your layline if one is available. Now that you know where the layline is you are ready to approach the line as the clock runs down and not get pinned out at the boat, or better yet, pin your opponent out, commonly known as barging. If you are on or slightly below the boat layline you can avoid getting pinned out by a leeward opponent. -- Scuttlebutt Forum, read on and post comments here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7991#7991 ATTRACTING YOUTH BACK TO ONE DESIGN CLASSES Back in the 1960’s, Larchmont Race Week would host huge fleets of Lightnings and Blue Jays sailed by juniors. Today’s Lightning Class is very supportive of junior sailing, particularly through efforts such as the Sears Cup and the Grant Program. But the numbers of juniors who have their own Lightnings is tiny compared to the glory days. That has led to a study to determine a way to draw even more kids to the class. Here at Fleet 5 in Chicago, we have been discussing a plan to re-introduce a Lightning more like the original Olin Stephens design we call the Lightning Retro. It detunes some of the innovations our fleet members worked on to turbocharge the original Lightning to make it more competitive with more modern designs, in the process making it more powerful and harder for kids to handle. Our fleet members, Bruce ‘The Bruin’ Goldsmith and Bob ‘Fast Boats Sail in Hot Water’ Smither, were instrumental in the decksweeper jib and oval mast revolutions. Their ideas have kept a 71 year old design current. But both also loved the class’ family appeal. We want to have both, the hotrod and the junior boat. So we're looking at two versions of a great design. -- Scuttlebutt Forum, read on and post comments here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7994 => Curmudgeon’s Comment: This is a great thread, as the bottom line is to keep youth sailors into the sport. When age, weight, or desire precludes continuing with the Optimist, Club 420, 29er, college, etc., classes like the Lightning are eager to pick up these young prospects. And the sooner, the better. ULLMAN SAILS POWER ANOTHER SANTANA 20 NATIONAL TITLE At last weekend’s 2009 Santana 20 Nationals in San Diego, Chris Winnard, Andrew Kerr and Lance Purdy on “Disaster Area” claimed the championship, making Winnard only the second skipper ever in class history to take the title five times! Winnard and his team dominated the event, racing consistently smart and fast in breeze ranging from 5-14 knots. Fully powered by the latest designs from Ullman Sails, “Disaster Area” never finished worse than 3rd in the 24-boat fleet in the seven-race series. Make an investment in your performance. Contact a local Ullman loft and visit us at http://www.ullmansails.com SAILING SHORTS * (Riva del Garda, Italy) - Eighty-four teams were competing for the 420 Ladies World Championship title, and among the seven North American teams, Americans Sydney Bolger and Caitlin Beavers were the top finishers in third position. For the 122 team Open Worlds, there were nine teams from North America vying for the title, with Judge Ryan and Chris Segerblom getting closest in eleventh. -- Results: http://www.fragliavelariva.com/public_new/listClassifiche.asp?RegataID=202 * A small group of companies are putting together an open source FSI tool for the modelling of yacht sails, with the goal to provide coupling with both panel based methods and comprehensive viscous CFD, thus providing an open-ended framework for development. A planning meeting is scheduled September 8th. -- Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7992 * New Zealand's Adam Minoprio hits the top spot in the Open ISAF World Match Race Rankings (released August 5, 2009) whilst French skipper Claire Leroy remains at #1 in the Women's Rankings. By displacing Mathieu Richard (FRA) at the top of the Open Rankings, Minoprio is the first non-French skipper to occupy the top spot in either the Open or Women’s Match Race Rankings since June 2008. -- Full story: http://www.sailing.org/29129.php * Director Emeritus of Transpacific Yacht Club Lou Comyns, who had passed away July 12, 2009, will have his memorial services held August 7, 2009 at Long Beach Yacht Club in Long Beach, CA. There will be a 9:00 am departure from Long Beach Yacht Club for a burial at sea, with all vessels welcomed to join in for a final Aloha. Services and refreshments will commence at LBYC at 11:30 am. RSVP attendance if possible: sailorcindy@yahoo.com * Hamilton, Bermuda (August 5, 2009) – Johnie Berntsson (SWE) returns to Bermuda October 6th to defend his 2008 title in the Argo Group Gold Cup. He will be sailing to put his name on the King Edward VII Gold Cup Trophy for a second time in a row. Three other previous champions also return in 2009, Mathieu Richard (FRA), Ian Williams (GBR) and three-time winner Peter Gilmour (AUS). Match Racing begins October 6th on Hamilton Harbour at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and continues through Sunday October 11th. -- Read on: http://www.bermudagoldcup.com/content/view/80/1/ CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: Aug 4-13 - Lightning North American Championship - Sodus Point, NY, USA Aug 5-9 - Northern Lights Cup Women's Match Race - Sheboygan, WI, USA Aug 6-15 - CST International Moth World Championship - Cascade Locks, OR, USA Aug 7-9 - Buzzards Bay Regatta - South Dartmouth, MA, USA Aug 8-9 - Verve Cup Regatta - Chicago, IL, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar Will you be at the Buzzards Bay or Verve Cup Regattas? If so, post your regatta stories in the Scuttlebutt Forum event threads for Scuttlebutt gear raffle: BBR: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7995 Verve: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7996 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Please submit your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From William Tuthill, WISSA President: Regarding the kite racing on San Francisco Bay (in Scuttlebutt 2901)…BRAVO! And keep your eyes open. This type of sail racing is as exciting to spectators as any! With luck kite racing will catch on, and ‘roll out’ to the various bays, lakes and estuaries all across America. Regular freestyle kiting is exciting to watch, but requires more wind than racing. Racing has a definitive result, and is much less subjective to judge than freestyle. A ‘roll out’ of kite racing would do a lot towards the goal of raising sailing awareness in this country. The World Ice & Snow Sailing Association (http://www.wissa.org) welcomed kiters to regular course racing back in 1993 at Choinice, Poland. The progression since then has been amazing to see. It went from making special courses to accommodate kites that could not go upwind to watching kites set all of the records. Last year in Riga, Latvia, the Russian kiters from places like Siberia and Moscow absolutely obliterated the reigning World Champions. There is some serious kite sailing talent out there and I LOVE that kite racing is coming to water. Bring it on and thank you to Scuttlebutt for publicizing it. * From John Harwood-Bee: With the revival of coverage of the farce formerly known as the Americas Cup, I was prompted to revisit my copy of the Deed of Gift complete with its various amendments. I had to read no further than the first condition of the deed to find the perfect argument for applying to the courts to have both current protagonists disqualified. I quote, ‘This Cup is donated upon the conditions that it shall be preserved as a perpetual Challenge Cup for friendly competition between foreign countries.’ Surely nobody of right mind could possible claim that, given the animosity between the parties concerned, this clause has not been violated continuously since the end of the 32nd cup competition. This being the case, is it not now time to acknowledge that the Cup has reached the end of its life and should be returned to New York Yacht Club to rest in peace once and for all? When once revered trophies such as the Cup and the Jules Verne are denigrated by ego, surely it is time to move on and start afresh. We need a new competition for the likes of Larry and Ernesto to display their admittedly magnificent machines and a new Round The World trophy that is only awarded for the outright fastest circumnavigation. Any ideas anybody? * From Ted Ritter, Fort Lauderdale, FL: I cannot help but wonder about a whole host of worrisome game changers with regard to two monster multihulls engaged in America’s Cup style match racing. The traditional pre-start maneuvering for one. When aimed at each other head-on from assigned ends of the start line, the closing speeds could easily reach 40 knots. How many helmsmen on the planet have experienced that? God forbid that a few seconds of tactical indecision by either boat could lead to catastrophic results. The traditional circling/stalling pre-start dial up employed by comparatively sluggish mono hulled sloops is out the window. Cats and Tris don’t do well stalled head to wind. During gybing and tacking the driver has to dash across the 90 ft beam to switch steering stations…holy molly! How many top notch PROs have experience setting a suitable starting line length? Not many, if any I would predict. How long is right for 90 ft x 90 ft rocket ships in a 12 knot breeze? Half a mile….? Who knows. How far away does the spectator fleet need to be shepherded? Using the spectator fleet or even the RC line boat as “picks” flies out the window as good common sense….90 foot beams combined with 15 to 20 knot reaching speeds. Lastly, judge boats better be fast to keep up or get out of the way. It’s a whole new ball game and while entertaining, equally as potentially frightening I’d say. * From Mark Eustis: Regarding the America’s Cup venue announcement of Ras al-Khaimah, how’s your Arabic? I can attest that due to its proximity to the Gulf…it’s NOT a dry heat. View location here: http://tinyurl.com/mnc8ko => Curmudgeon’s Comment: There is countdown timer on the Scuttlebutt website for the start of the America’s Cup match, which also provides the current temperature in Ras al-Khaimah. At press time there was 186 days to go, and it was 102 F degrees (and climbing) at 04:25. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't. A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, and she does. Special thanks to Aquidneck Custom Composites and Ullman Sails. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
